JERUSALEM — Vice President Joe Biden began a visit to Israel and the West Bank on Monday, assuring Israelis in a newspaper interview that Washington would close ranks with them against any threat from a nuclear-armed Iran.

Biden, the most senior U.S. official to visit Israel since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, is widely expected to caution his hosts not to attack Iran pre-emptively while world powers pursue fresh sanctions against Tehran.

He made no comment on his arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport and had no publicly scheduled meetings before talks on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.